I always wonder how many of you think that, without piracy, every one of those pirated copies would turn into a sold copy...

I mean, I'm not for piracy for piracy's sake, but you can't blame piracy for lost sales. I mean, hell, game software was one of the few industries to *grow* while the recession was getting into full swing. It isn't surprising that the scale has finally tipped the other way.

I think if publishers and devs complained less about piracy, simply taking it in stride as a cost-of-doing-business, they'd lose substantially less money, not having to throw it at lawyers and buggy, half-assed copy protection schemes that don't work in the first place.

"I'm against piracy. At least I was until I started gaining a profit from it. Well, I'm still against it ethically, but I like money, so I'll let it slip. God I hate pirates."

The funniest thing about all of this is that the AAA companies probably have similar data available to them regarding their games (most specifically, digital distribution titles), and will continue to tout that their sales are being negatively impacted by piracy.

Lol, that's an interesting story, nice to see something good come out of something that's usually regarded as bad.

I wonder why it isn't common practice to make a demo for games, I mean I figure the reason most people pirate games isn't because they can't afford it but because they don't want to make an investment into something they aren't sure will be worth it. Not trying to justify it, but if you understand something, it's that much easier to work against.

Game Developers, release demos so we can see what your game has to offer, thanks.

Eri:.99$ just goes to show people pirate no matter the price. "i can't afford it" not even close to an excuse for this game.

How about the fact that most people don't like dealing with the AppStore and most people don't like the fact that apple is pretty bitchy about what you can do with YOUR cellphone and what you can't.

Maybe in this case, it's not just about the dev, but about Apple's bad business practices.

so lets get this straight they dont like their practices they dont like the store..etc so instead of using another product like say android or something they hack the iphone do what they want with it and pirate thus taking money not out of apples pocket *they spent the 300+ dollars for an iphone* but out of small developers pockets?

Demos, rent a game, Borrow a game from a friend you have options more then just throwing your money out there to see if the game works or is good...hell there is one thing you could do but that would be condoning piracy in the end...

"I'm against piracy. At least I was until I started gaining a profit from it. Well, I'm still against it ethically, but I like money, so I'll let it slip. God I hate pirates."

The funniest thing about all of this is that the AAA companies probably have similar data available to them regarding their games (most specifically, digital distribution titles), and will continue to tout that their sales are being negatively impacted by piracy.

A hypocrite? I disagree, he's simply weighing his morals against potential monetary gain and finding that since he can't necessarily do anything about the moral issue he may as well accept the ironically increased profit he has.

RvLeshrac:I always wonder how many of you think that, without piracy, every one of those pirated copies would turn into a sold copy...

I mean, I'm not for piracy for piracy's sake, but you can't blame piracy for lost sales. I mean, hell, game software was one of the few industries to *grow* while the recession was getting into full swing. It isn't surprising that the scale has finally tipped the other way.

I think if publishers and devs complained less about piracy, simply taking it in stride as a cost-of-doing-business, they'd lose substantially less money, not having to throw it at lawyers and buggy, half-assed copy protection schemes that don't work in the first place.

I doubt many people actually think all those pirates would have bought the game if they couldn't pirate it..but you can definitely blame piracy for a lost sale in the end its all context but you can still blame piracy for a lost sale let alone the fact the people that would have bought the game but decided to save money and pirate you have others that took the time to either hack the system to allow for copied games to play or hacked the iphone to play said games then without that choice of piracy they would have likely broke down and purchased the game eventually.

"I'm against piracy. At least I was until I started gaining a profit from it. Well, I'm still against it ethically, but I like money, so I'll let it slip. God I hate pirates."

The funniest thing about all of this is that the AAA companies probably have similar data available to them regarding their games (most specifically, digital distribution titles), and will continue to tout that their sales are being negatively impacted by piracy.

A hypocrite? I disagree, he's simply weighing his morals against potential monetary gain and finding that since he can't necessarily do anything about the moral issue he may as well accept the ironically increased profit he has.

hy·poc·ri·sy [hi-pok-ruh-see]-noun, plural -sies.1.a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.2.a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.3.an act or instance of hypocrisy.

It is hypocritical to compromise your morals only when it is advantageous to you.

God, get over it people. No matter what you may think of them, people will still pirate software. We understand that you disagree with the practice.

Also, you are turning the "correlation does not equal causation" argument into the "Argument from Ignorance", which is a logical fallacy. Your assuming that since there may be other factors he is not taking into account (at least from our perspective), he is obviously wrong. All this proves is that no one knows the reason his sales increased, at absolute best.

Besides, this fits right into the idea that some people pirate before buying as a way to try a game out. It doesn't matter that it only costs $0.99. As someone before me stated, pirates will pirate anything.

Edit: This does not mean I agree or disagree with the guy. He is, however, in a better position than myself to judge such things in regards to his own software.

"I'm against piracy. At least I was until I started gaining a profit from it. Well, I'm still against it ethically, but I like money, so I'll let it slip. God I hate pirates."

The funniest thing about all of this is that the AAA companies probably have similar data available to them regarding their games (most specifically, digital distribution titles), and will continue to tout that their sales are being negatively impacted by piracy.

A hypocrite? I disagree, he's simply weighing his morals against potential monetary gain and finding that since he can't necessarily do anything about the moral issue he may as well accept the ironically increased profit he has.

hy·poc·ri·sy [hi-pok-ruh-see]-noun, plural -sies.1.a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.2.a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.3.an act or instance of hypocrisy.

It is hypocritical to compromise your morals only when it is advantageous to you.

How would he have gone through with his morals? Stop selling the game? No offense but think this through before you start quoting dictionary.com.

bushwhacker2k:Lol, that's an interesting story, nice to see something good come out of something that's usually regarded as bad.

I wonder why it isn't common practice to make a demo for games, I mean I figure the reason most people pirate games isn't because they can't afford it but because they don't want to make an investment into something they aren't sure will be worth it. Not trying to justify it, but if you understand something, it's that much easier to work against.

Game Developers, release demos so we can see what your game has to offer, thanks.

You make a fine point. I have pointed out the same thing, that no one puts out demos anymore. I remember when PS2 was first out. I used to buy every game I wanted from Gamestop. They had this awesome return policy that let you return the game within 7 days, even if the reason was you didn't like it. Piracy is probably like this for many people.

hy·poc·ri·sy [hi-pok-ruh-see]-noun, plural -sies.1.a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.2.a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.3.an act or instance of hypocrisy.

It is hypocritical to compromise your morals only when it is advantageous to you.

How would he have gone through with his morals? Stop selling the game? No offense but think this through before you start quoting dictionary.com.

In regards to the strawman re: dictionary.com; Then use your personal favourite dictionary. You will find that definitions differ little between dictionaries for the most part.

I wouldn't have come out against the pirates in the first place. I would have said, "Thanks guys. Your illegal distribution of the game helped my sales. That's kinda cool. In return, if I can convince you to buy the game for realz, I'll give you this discount/bonus/etc". I would supply this as a pop-up the next five or so times the pirates play the game, since he has already established that he has a method of tracking who is pirating the game.

Selling a product to the lcd becomes easier when you don't be a dick to them.

Demos, rent a game, Borrow a game from a friend you have options more then just throwing your money out there to see if the game works or is good...hell there is one thing you could do but that would be condoning piracy in the end...

I will say it for a 3rd time, that does NOT tell me if it runs on my system. I have no means to test that other than a demo. And TECHNICALLY SPEAKING it's illegal (in some EULAS) for me to borrow it from a friend and play on his account on my PC to see if it works. And what if a friend doesn't have the game? I cannot return it to a store once open, I cannot go by system requirements because they're rarely right.

Until I know it'll run on my PC I'm not going to buy it, I torrent it and if it works yay they have a sale! If it doesn't work, you can't honestly claim that I'm going to play it because it doesn't work. There's absolutely nothing wrong with what I do, I'm testing before I buy. And it's lead to 96 games on steam being bought alone.

Oh and a few of those I cannot play because the system requirements were wrong and I bought on a whim so I was swindled. :) So who's in the wrong here?

Edit: I'm in no way saying piracy is good, I'm saying there's a USE for piracy. A good one so despite all the nay say-ers there IS a golden lining to piracy that allows us who use PCs as a platform to acquire our own demos that lets us know if we can purchase a game and enjoy it. Because unlike xbox and PS3 we don't always get a demo and our systems aren't that easy. It's not put game in and work, we gotta see if they DO work.

hy·poc·ri·sy [hi-pok-ruh-see]-noun, plural -sies.1.a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.2.a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.3.an act or instance of hypocrisy.

It is hypocritical to compromise your morals only when it is advantageous to you.

How would he have gone through with his morals? Stop selling the game? No offense but think this through before you start quoting dictionary.com.

In regards to the strawman re: dictionary.com; Then use your personal favourite dictionary. You will find that definitions differ little between dictionaries for the most part.

I wouldn't have come out against the pirates in the first place. I would have said, "Thanks guys. Your illegal distribution of the game helped my sales. That's kinda cool. In return, if I can convince you to buy the game for realz, I'll give you this discount/bonus/etc". I would supply this as a pop-up the next five or so times the pirates play the game, since he has already established that he has a method of tracking who is pirating the game.

Selling a product to the lcd becomes easier when you don't be a dick to them.

I think I'm missing something...

He has a way of tracking them? I did see that he somehow found out about piracy of his game at the same time but honestly if there was a way to track piracy then it simply wouldn't happen, so there's no way that's the case.

"I'm against piracy. At least I was until I started gaining a profit from it. Well, I'm still against it ethically, but I like money, so I'll let it slip. God I hate pirates."

The funniest thing about all of this is that the AAA companies probably have similar data available to them regarding their games (most specifically, digital distribution titles), and will continue to tout that their sales are being negatively impacted by piracy.

The reason (supposedly) for his increased sales is awareness of the game, not something that's an issue for AAA games. So yes, in 100% of cases piracy hurts their sales.

Also, has anyone tried the verbal captcha thing? I just did and I got brains *zombieish mumbling* four *more mumbling* lewl.

Everyone saying it is stupid to credit it to piracy and it is "insert whatever you think here" are just equally as stupid. Your opinion is no more valid than those that believe it may be due to piracy - they are both as equally likely and your opinion is not the best.

As for piracy in general, I know a lot of people who pirate games, including actual cackers of games, and the VAST majority would not buy the games they get pirated but DO buy the games that they like. So the opinion "piracy costs money" is not anywhere near as relevant as the some of the brainwashed people seem to think.

In regards to the strawman re: dictionary.com; Then use your personal favourite dictionary. You will find that definitions differ little between dictionaries for the most part.

I wouldn't have come out against the pirates in the first place. I would have said, "Thanks guys. Your illegal distribution of the game helped my sales. That's kinda cool. In return, if I can convince you to buy the game for realz, I'll give you this discount/bonus/etc". I would supply this as a pop-up the next five or so times the pirates play the game, since he has already established that he has a method of tracking who is pirating the game.

Selling a product to the lcd becomes easier when you don't be a dick to them.

I think I'm missing something...

He has a way of tracking them? I did see that he somehow found out about piracy of his game at the same time but honestly if there was a way to track piracy then it simply wouldn't happen, so there's no way that's the case.

The article establishes that he has a code running to check if the game is cracked. Currently it doesn't do anything other than report back whether a copy of the game is real or pirated. He can cross-reference that to the install date of the game and present the graph that was shown in the article. Previously the code shut down the game when it found that the game was pirated:

"He also noted that an earlier version of the game included a code which checked to see if it had been cracked and if so, displayed a message asking the user to purchase the app and then exited."

lacktheknack:Well, if you're not lying through your teeth, then I don't see the problem. Time to get writing those letters to the developers...

I once wrote a letter to Ubisoft. They told me to piss off.

I'm sure Kotick's team gives just about the same amount of a damn.

EA might care if you gathered a few million signatures on a petition, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Running out of publishers here.

I'd love to know what was in that letter you sent, and do you still have their reply?

I can't quote it to you verbatim, but it was along the lines of "I purchased your game and it destroyed my operating system, a bug of which you were aware. Please return my money in exchange for your game."

The letter I got back was, essentially, "Bugs are a fact of software development. We're sorry to hear that, but we can't offer a refund for bugs! Buy our next game, X!"

That's a pretty piss-poor response for a bug which caused the installer to remove "C:\Windows\*.*" as part of the uninstall.

Gamestop/Funcoland (I think my local store was still Funcoland...) pulled all the copies of PoR as soon as they knew about the issue, so at least *SOMEONE* was acting as a responsible adult.

Snotnarok:I like how people are already saying things against piracy here like how it's just 99cents. Well some people don't like apple or their way of dealing with things and they jail broke their device. And Apple being the big nazi company they are will do anything to screw your device over once jail broken so some people just go fuck it and pirate it. It's kind of a lose lose situation, are they not in the right but it's not because of the just price sheesh.

There's many reasons people pirate games, I pirate games to see if they'll run on my PC, you know because so many developers release demos to test it on your hardware. I'm looking at you Activision and Cliffy B. Once I find if it runs on my system I go out and buy it...

Snotnarok:I like how people are already saying things against piracy here like how it's just 99cents. Well some people don't like apple or their way of dealing with things and they jail broke their device. And Apple being the big nazi company they are will do anything to screw your device over once jail broken so some people just go fuck it and pirate it. It's kind of a lose lose situation, are they not in the right but it's not because of the just price sheesh.

There's many reasons people pirate games, I pirate games to see if they'll run on my PC, you know because so many developers release demos to test it on your hardware. I'm looking at you Activision and Cliffy B. Once I find if it runs on my system I go out and buy it...

Thanks, it's actually an older pic... And I typically don't like showing off, I just wanted to prove a point that I often buy games after I've tried it "borrowed" on PC so I can make sure it's valid. The point being that I like buying my games, but I also like being sure they'll run and with no demo, that's hard to do with PC.

At least he's found enough good in the bad to see the silver lining. It's nice to read a story about piracy that isn't "Oh shit! My family and I will starve now!", because that certainly isn't happening as much as reported or companies would just stop making games.

Further Reading...PHA+UGlyYWN5IGlzIHN0aWxsIGJhZCwgbW1ta2F5PzxiciAvPjxpbWcgc3JjPSJodHRwOi8vaTczNS5waG90b2J1Y2tldC5jb20vYWxidW1zL3d3MzUzL0VkVGhlU2FyYWNlbi9Nck1hY2tleTAyLnBuZyIgYWx0PSJpbWFnZSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxNDgiLz48L3A+

Snotnarok:I like how people are already saying things against piracy here like how it's just 99cents. Well some people don't like apple or their way of dealing with things and they jail broke their device. And Apple being the big nazi company they are will do anything to screw your device over once jail broken so some people just go fuck it and pirate it. It's kind of a lose lose situation, are they not in the right but it's not because of the just price sheesh.

There's many reasons people pirate games, I pirate games to see if they'll run on my PC, you know because so many developers release demos to test it on your hardware. I'm looking at you Activision and Cliffy B. Once I find if it runs on my system I go out and buy it...

Thanks, it's actually an older pic... And I typically don't like showing off, I just wanted to prove a point that I often buy games after I've tried it "borrowed" on PC so I can make sure it's valid. The point being that I like buying my games, but I also like being sure they'll run and with no demo, that's hard to do with PC.